CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Butzbach it runs 215 km to Butzbach; allow about 2 h 39 of riding. On the way it passes Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82, Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel, Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens and back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 39 km this is German Fairy Tale Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Near Butzbach the Wetterau starts to break against the Taunus, and the Roman frontier passes through that transition with a long series of numbered watchtowers, in this case 4/20 to 4/36. It is a longer run than most, and it reflects how carefully the Romans watched this side of the line, where the open plain makes a natural highway for anyone coming from the north. The Upper German-Raetian Limes, listed by UNESCO in 2005, crosses farmland here, and in places the old rampart survives as a low bank in a meadow edge or a stretch of forest.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the is where the day begins. Next is Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82.
Between two neighbouring watchtowers the Romans left a short piece of frontier that today looks like almost nothing, and that is part of its charm. The line between Wachtposten 4/81 and 4/82 runs through the fields of the Wetterau east of Frankfurt, close to Echzell, where the earth wall and ditch of the Limes can still be traced as a long, low swelling in the farmland, sometimes crowned by a hedge or a row of trees that have grown on it. Beneath the field, archaeologists have found postholes of the palisade, which stood about three metres high and was made of split oak trunks.
Read the complete Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82 comes up about 49 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel.
Marköbel is a village in the eastern Wetterau, the fertile plain north east of Frankfurt, and it stands on the site of a Roman fort that guarded the frontier where it crossed this open country. The fort, with its civilian settlement, the vicus, where merchants, craftsmen and soldiers' families lived, was part of the Upper German Limes, and today little remains above ground, but the village streets still follow parts of the old layout, and a reconstructed section of the frontier and markers explain the history. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 84 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens.
Seligenstadt is one of those Main valley towns where every era has left something on the table. The Romans came first: here the frontier of the Upper German-Raetian Limes ran along the river itself, and a fort with a civilian settlement around it guarded the Main crossing. The fort site lies under the old town, so you are walking over it rather than looking at it, but the logic of the place is obvious when you stand by the water. The river was the border, the road and the supply line all at once.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens, about halfway. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel sits at 110 km, about halfway. Next is back through Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82 comes up about 187 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the closes the day.
Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the → Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82 is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82 → Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel → Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Seligens → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Marköbel → back through Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82 is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Limessection between WP 4/81 and 4/82 → Watchtowers WP 4/20 to 4/36 including the is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.